Monday, May 29, 2017

Jim Rogers: Avoid India, Buy Russia

Equities in India are on a tear this year, and while investor Jim Rogers admits that he missed the rise, he wouldn't jump in now.

Instead, Rogers, in a terse blog post this month, wrote that if oil stops going down, he would hope to "buy a lot of rubles." His headline on the Russia post: "favorite emerging market" and he lists the VanEck Vectors Russia ETF (RSX) therein. The ETF is down nearly 7% this year, and has slipped nearly 1% today.

India's LiveMint on Wednesday reported that Rogers -- asked if he would invest in India now -- said, "when you jump on to a moving train, you’ll get hurt." Rogers invested in India on early prospects for reform under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, Rogers - the chairman of Rogers Holdings who co-founded the Quantum Fund with George Soros -- says he exited his investments in India after Modi "did nothing much for two years.” Rogers admitted he "sold too soon" and pointed to the opportunity from India's Goods and Services Tax (GST), a national scheme that should boost government revenue. But implementation has been delayed. And on his blog, Rogers called Modi's demonetization of 85% of the rupees in circulation "theft."

At the start of the year, Rogers was bullish on Russia with prospects for improved relations with President Donald J. Trump's administration. At the time, Rogers told CNBC that the Trump Administration appointment of China critic Peter Navarro was a poor one. Rogers was was critical of a potential tariff on Chinese imports and told MarketWatch that he was worried about debt globally, especially in the United States and China, while interest rates remain low.